Brendan Fevola has credited his on-off partner, Alex Fevola, with helping him get his life back on track.
In a candid interview with the Talking In Common podcast on Monday, the 40-year-old former Australian rules footballer said he’s finally the happiest he’s ever been.
It comes 10 years after he was admitted to a mental health clinic in Queensland, having previously battled depression, alcoholism and a gambling addiction.
Soulmate: Brendan Fevola has credited his on-off partner, Alex Fevola, with helping him get his life back on track. Both pictured
Brendan credits Alex, 44, with his stellar radio career and transforming him into a doting dad to four daughters – Mia, Leni, Lulu and Tobi.
‘This sounds corny but it’s Alex, if I didn’t have her I don’t know where I’d be. She’s been my guide and my rock. She knows what I’m going to say before I even say it,’ he said.
Brendan revealed there was a period where he ‘went bankrupt’, and Alex was supporting him financially.
In a good place: In a candid interview with the Talking In Common podcast on Monday, the former Australian rules footballer said he’s finally the happiest he’s ever been
‘We weren’t even together and she was still supporting me. For someone to do that, she’s an amazing woman and I’m very lucky to have her,’ he added.
The reformed bad boy acknowledged that they’d ‘been through a lot of crap’, but said the fact that they’re still together only proved that they’re ‘meant to be’.
‘God knows where I’d be without her. Everything that’s happened to me that’s good is because of her,’ he continued.
Daddy’s girls: Brendan credits Alex with his stellar radio career and transforming him into a doting dad to four daughters – Mia, Leni, Lulu and Tobi
Brendan and Alex were married in 2005, before divorcing in 2014 and rekindling their relationship shortly afterwards.
They previously split in 2006 after the Carlton star’s brief and controversial affair with Australian model Lara Bingle, who is now married to actor Sam Worthington.
Brendan, who was 26 at the time, and Lara, then a 19-year-old bikini model, reportedly met on the set of The Footy Show in Sydney and allegedly spent time together in Melbourne on several occasions.
‘This sounds corny but it’s Alex, if I didn’t have her I don’t know where I’d be. She’s been my guide and my rock. She knows what I’m going to say before I even say it,’ he said
Lara has previously claimed she did not know Brendan was married at the time, telling The Daily Telegraph in 2009 she only discovered his marital status when she heard his baby daughter crying while they were speaking on the phone.
Elsewhere, Brendan made headlines for several controversial incidents, including being kicked out of Crown Melbourne with a black eye in March 2004.
Brendan was also sent home from an AFL tour of Ireland after assaulting a barman at a Galway nightclub in 2006.
Longtime love: The reformed bad boy acknowledged that they’d ‘been through a lot of crap’, but said the fact that they’re still together only proved that they’re ‘meant to be’
He also urinated outside a nightclub in 2008 that resulted in him being fined $10,000 by Carlton and stood down from leadership at his club.
In 2009, he dressed in a nightie and brandished a sex toy during Carlton’s Mad Monday celebrations, with video footage of the incident posted on YouTube.
‘Fev had a foot-long dildo hanging out of his pink muu-muu in full public view outside the bar,’ an unnamed witness told news.com.au at the time.
Scandal: They previously split in 2006 after the Carlton star’s brief and controversial affair with Australian model Lara Bingle (pictured), who is now married to actor Sam Worthington
‘I saw him hit a couple of girls on the head with it. It was a bit off-putting.’
The same year, he was banned from appearing on the Grand Final Footy Show after behaving inappropriately at the Brownlow Medal ceremony.
The former Carlton and Brisbane star had infamously interviewed players and WAGs while heavily intoxicated.
Brendan, who was working for Channel Nine’s AFL Footy Show at the time, pretended to attack then-Carlton superstar Chris Judd, made sexual jokes to his partner Bec Judd, kissed Sydney Swans midfielder Ryan O’Keefe and snapped at the condescension of James Hird.
He left Carlton shortly after the fallout.
Over the years the footy star was also plagued by a gambling addiction that nearly drove him to suicide in late 2010 after he lost almost a million dollars.
On and off again: Brendan and Alex were married in 2005, before divorcing in 2014 and rekindling their relationship shortly afterwards
Brendan explained that he ‘hit rock bottom’ when he had an argument with Alex and ended up drinking ‘three or four bottles’ of red wine and tried to harm himself.
‘I just thought the easiest way to go was to do this and to put everyone out of their pain… by giving the pain to myself,’ he told Fox Sports.
He revealed that it was his mother who found him in his drunken state following his suicide attempt.
‘We weren’t even together and she was still supporting me. For someone to do that, she’s an amazing woman and I’m very lucky to have her,’ he said. Pictured with Alex and daughter Mia (centre)
‘It wasn’t fair on my mum, it’s not fair on anyone… it was very, very stupid and immature,’ he said.
In 2011, Brendan ended up going to rehab for gambling, drinking and depression for 60 days and was sacked from playing AFL while there.
‘Being sacked was probably the best thing that ever happened to me though, because then I got out of “the bubble”, and I was fine. It was really weird,’ he recalled afterwards.
‘God knows where I’d be without her. Everything that’s happened to me that’s good is because of her,’ he said